In the lead up to this year's Royal Rumble, we'll be counting down the 20 greatest moments in the history of WWE's most famous match. This list was determined by a panel that included myself, Geno Mrosko and Sean Rueter. We tried to keep it diverse, with a mix of comedy, emotion, story, and wrestling.
Clash of the titans
One of the foundations upon which professional wrestling is built is the spectacle of two enormous specimens of humanity going toe-to-toe with one another. There have been a lot of big-man showdowns in Royal Rumble history -- Vader and Yokozuna, Big Show, Viscera and Mark Henry all being in there year after year -- but the first half-ton showdown that was really played up as a big deal may still stand as the best of them all.
The 1993 Royal Rumble was Yokozuna's first, but his most memorable. He went on to win the match and then capture the title (albeit briefly) at WrestleMania IX.
But along the way, Yokozuna came face-to-face with another giant who was in his WWF decline: Earthquake. Ironically, Earthquake, AKA John Tenta, had actually been a sumo wrestler in Japan, while Rodney Anoa'i -- the man touted as one of the greatest sumo wrestlers of all time -- never competed in the sport.
Their showdown within the Rumble was played perfectly and the crowd completely ate it up. Even better was the fact that their brief encounter felt suitably epic, as all other action fell to the background as these two behemoths went at it. Earthquake managed to batter Yokozuna into the corner and hit an avalanche (that was really more like a Stinger Splash), but missed a second one.
One gargantuan belly-to-belly later, it was all over.
It was a beautiful, fleeting moment and if you haven't seen it before, you should definitely check it out. Click here to watch the 1993 Royal Rumble match on the WWE Network. The showdown in question starts around the two hour and 20 minute mark.
Earthquake and Yokozuna would face off in a sumo match on RAW in 1994, but their face-off at the Royal Rumble was lightning in a bottle -- one that still electrifies today.